Full Description
A literary collection honoring and memorializing Selena, the Queen of Tejano.
Thirty years after her death, Selena Quintanilla-PÉrez remains a cherished figure of Mexican American popular culture, her music and celebrity resounding across the decades. This unique collection of creative and scholarly works traces Selena's lasting impact as an entertainer and focal point of community and identity.
Assembling essays, memoir, short stories, and poems, The Selena Reader memorializes a beloved singer while also exploring the politics and personal meaning of what we remember. Selena's devoted admirers tell us what they took from her lyrics and stage presence, the official and fan tributes, and the media and products she inspired. In one essay, Tejana coming-of-age is sharply refracted through the prism of Selena's art and social status. Another piece considers how Selena's body and distinctive clothing have shaped the author's sense of queer self. Honey Avila (aka Honey Andrews), the renowned Selena impersonator, shares vivid recollections of her hero. A father and daughter describe how their conversations about Selena changed their relationship and contributed to Chicana feminist consciousness in their lives. All told, this anthology amplifies the gratitude of generations who have loved, and learned from, Selena.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Remembering Selena: Letter to Our Readers
(Larissa M. Mercado-LÓpez and Yndalecio Isaac Hinojosa)
La flor ofrenda (Aideed Medina, translated by Rossy Evelin Lima)
Part I. Entre a mi mundo: Expressions and Embodiments of Selena
Chapter 1. Sounds of Nepantla: Where Selena Found Her Voice (Francisco CantÚ)
Chapter 2. "More Mexican than the Mexicans and More American than the Americans": The Role of Selenidad in the Construction of Nepantlerx Identities (Sarah De Los Santos Upton and Leandra H. HernÁndez)
Chapter 3. Call it fodder. Call it flame. I call it cariÑo. (Joe JimÉnez)
Chapter 4. Divas Latinas: Selena and the Fashioning of Queer Latinidad (Ruben Ernesto Zecena)
Part II. Fotos y recuerdos: Public Remembrances of Selena
Chapter 5. Selena as Iconography in Chicana/o/x Muralism in the United States (Mariana Ruiz-GonzÁlez)
Chapter 6. Escucha La Reina: Making Meaning of the Memory of Selena (Amanda Longoria Marquez)
Chapter 7. Memorials Then and Now: Re/membering Selena in el Mundo de Corpus Christi, Her Hometown (Susan Garza, Kristina Gutierrez, and Danyela Fonseca)
Chapter 8. Selena and Duvina (Norma Elia CantÚ)
Part III. Dreaming of You: Selena Stories and Pedagogies
Chapter 9. A Selena Story: Teaching and Learning About La Reina de la MÚsica Tejana (Sonya Aleman)
Chapter 10. Lowriding with Selena: A Chicano/a Father-Daughter Pedagogy (Nichole Margarita Garcia and Richard J. Garcia)
Chapter 11. Selena Epistemology and Survival in Academia (Erin E. Doran and CristÓbal Salinas Jr.)
'Till Tomorrow (Rossy Evelin Lima)
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index
